Cavs: Pluses, minuses of potentially trading for Chris Paul

Pluses for the Cavs: Helping young guards, being more competitive and leadership

The first plus to me for Cleveland in potentially trading for Paul would be how he could aid the Cavs’ young guards in their development, in relation to Darius Garland, Collin Sexton and Kevin Porter Jr.

Paul, who averaged 17.6 points, 6.7 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game in 2019-20 for OKC, is one of the best point guards in the history of the game.

He’s masterful in the pick-and-roll game, and could help those youngsters in their growth as scorers, and Garland and KPJ, in particular, as passers. Let’s not discount Paul’s defensive chops, either, and behind the scenes/on the sideline, he could help Sexton/Garland considerably in regards to their defensive IQ.

Secondly in terms of positives for a possible trade for Paul for Cleveland, he’d help make the Cavs be more competitive, I’d imagine. He was a key reason that the Thunder seemingly shocked everybody last season and ended up being the fifth seed in the Western Conference, in which they would lose in the first round in seven games to the Houston Rockets.

The circumstances aren’t completely paralleled, but with Paul largely leading the way, the Cavs, you would think, could very well be in the conversation for participating in the 7-10 seed tournament for the Eastern Conference’s final two postseason spots.

That’s if that were to go through, and of which ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and ESPN’s Zach Lowe reported could be agreed upon for next season, based on how play-in play was a success in the Orlando bubble. Albeit the #9 and #10 seeds would have to win twice without losing, in that sense, of which you can view more on Woj’s reported proposal details below.

Paul again, with his playmaking capabilities and big-time shooting ability, especially via the pull-up/step back variety, would impact winning for the Cavaliers.

They’d be more competitive game-to-game, one would think, say if Tristan Thompson, whose set to be unrestricted, were to come back and/or the Cavs also drafted a big.

That’s with Kevin Love at the 4 a bunch with Thompson/perhaps USC big Onyeka Okongwu, in that scenario.

And thirdly, while he is a demanding teammate, Paul could help Cleveland in relation to the leadership realm. He could aid in changing the culture more toward a winner for the Cavs, and serve essentially as an extension of head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and Cleveland’s coaching staff, which could help elevate his teammates, at least to some degree.

Moving on here, we’ll examine the minuses if the Cavs were to pursue a trade for Chris Paul.